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Wednesday, February 15, 2017

A Spiritual Surf Safari

God is calling you to step out and explore outside the current boundary of your faith. Good things exist beyond the borders of what you know and understand. An adventure is awaiting your arrival. I began to surf as a 14-year-old kid living inland in Los Gatos, California. My mom would drive my brother and me over Highway 17 to Santa Cruz on Saturday mornings and drop us off at Otto’s Surf Shop where we would pick out our rental boards. From Otto’s we would walk down to Cowell’s Beach to catch our first wave. After a day of surfing, we would ride the bus back home and mom would pick us up. This Saturday routine went on until I was 16 and got a driver’s license, my first car and a new custom Hansen surfboard (www.hansensurf.com ). Because I was now mobile, I was able to explore all our local surf spots.

In the summer of 1966 the classic surf movie, The Endless Summer, was released. It spawned in every surfer the dream of going on a personal surf safari. When I graduated from high school a buddy and I planned our own safari. He who owned a 59 VW bug with board racks on top. So we set out with our sleeping bags, a loaf of bread and very little money. Our plan was to surf every break we could find between our local surf spot on the central California coast all the way south to the Mexican border. We were young and broke, but we had a plan. It was a great three-week adventure.

This week, I heard the words, “It is time for a spiritual surf safari.” Though the words sounded a bit unusual, I knew it was the Lord. It is time for some of us to expand the borders of our faith. Like a surfer who has never surfed a new break and always stayed local, we can settle for only what is known. There is a risk involved for those who step beyond the bounds of what is familiar, but that step of faith will always pay great dividends.

While surfing Rincon one afternoon, I paddled out to catch a wave.When I finally caught the wave, I began to slide down the face. At the bottom, I made a hard right turn throwing a fan of spray in my wake. On the paddle back out my friend, Bill, yelled to me, “Man, that was the best bottom turn I’ve ever seen you make!” It was not that I could not have made a similar bottom turn at Cowell’s Beach back home, but something was different here. I really was going for it because I was on an adventure. The mindset of exploration and adventure caused me to step outside my personal boundaries and beyond my normal skill level. The whole trip was just like that - radical.

Maybe it is time for you to pack up your spiritual VW. Grab a friend and put your boards on the rack of your calling and set out to discover something larger and unknown. God will meet you in that new place with expansion and acceleration for the anointing on your life. In that place of newfound joy and wonder you will make the best bottom turns of your life because risk was no longer something to be feared.

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A New Book - The Sound of Reformation

A reformation is taking place in the Church. In this reformation we will rediscover the simplicity of our mission and calling. In The Sound of Reformation, Garris explores the purpose and product of the five equipping gifts found in Ephesians 4 then links the impact of that training and equipping to a unique place on the 7 Mountains of cultural influence. As you read this book you will rediscover the beauty and transforming power of a simple faith.